The Australian Football League (AFL) is the premier and only completely professional men’s league in Australian rules football. The AFL also functions as the sport’s regulating body, through the AFL Commission, and is in charge of enforcing the rules of the game.
The league presently has 18 clubs from five of Australia’s six states participating (Tasmania being the exception). To promote the sport internationally, matches have been held in all states, as well as the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, as well as in New Zealand and China.
Lots of amazing players play in the AFL. However, our concern in this piece is the list of the heaviest AFL players in history. Read on to learn more!
1. Braydon Preuss
Braydon Preuss is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). North Melbourne selected him with their first pick and fifteenth overall in the 2015 rookie draft. In the first round of the 2017 season, he made his AFL debut in a 43-point defeat to West Coast at Etihad Stadium.
Preuss was moved to Melbourne at the end of the 2018 season. Preuss, however, requested a move to Greater Western Sydney at the end of the 2020 AFL season after only playing 10 games for Melbourne in two years. Braydon is one of the heaviest AFL players of all time with a weight of 250 pounds.
2. Sean Darcy
Sean Darcy is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Darcy was a skilled swimmer as well as a young footballer for Cobden Football Club. In 2016, he represented the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup Under 18s tournament, his school, and Victoria Country in the 2016 AFL Under 18 Championships.
Fremantle selected him with their second pick (38th overall) in the 2016 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in Round 14 of the 2017 AFL season against Geelong at Simonds Stadium. Darcy had 40 strikeouts in his debut game. He is frequently likened to Shane Mumford because of his physical dimensions with a weight of 247 pounds.
3. Jarod Witts
Jarrod Witts is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). From 2012 to 2016, he was a member of the Collingwood Football Club. Witts, along with David Swallow, was named Gold Coast co-captain for the 2019 season.
Witts is the tallest captain in AFL/VFL history, standing at 209cm. Steven King previously held the record at 202 cm. He is also one of the largest AFL players, weighing 245 pounds.
4. Nicholas Naitanui
Nicholas Mark Naitanui is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Naitanui grew up in Midvale, where he attended Governor Stirling Senior High School and played football for the Midvale Junior Football Club.
He made his West Australian Football League debut in 2008 for the Swan Districts Football Club after representing Western Australia in the AFL Under 18 Championships in 2007 and 2008. (WAFL). West Coast selected Naitanui with the second pick in the 2008 National Draft. He is one of the heaviest AFL players with a gross weight of 245 pounds.
5. Mason Cox
Mason Cox is a professional Australian rules footballer from the United States who now plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He began playing Australian rules football in April 2014 as a ruckman and key forward before making his AFL debut two years later in April 2016.
Cox formerly played basketball at Oklahoma State University in the Big 12 Conference, and at 211 cm, he is the tallest player ever measured at an AFL Draft Combine (6 ft 10in). Mason is one of the heaviest AFL players of all time with a weight of 231 pounds.
6. Lloyd Meek
Lloyd Meek is an Australian footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL. Meek represented SMW Rovers, Greater Western Victoria Rebels in the TAC Cup Under 18s competition, and Victoria Country in the 2017 AFL Under 18 Championships as a junior at Ballarat Grammar School. In the Victorian Football League, he also played four games for North Ballarat Football Club in 2017.
Fremantle selected him with the sixth overall pick (69th overall) in the 2017 AFL draft. In his fourth season with the club, he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2021 AFL season. Lloyd is one of the heaviest AFL players of all time with a gross weight of 240 pounds.
7. Max Gawn
Max Gawn is an Australian footballer who now represents the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He began his career as a basketballer and rugby union player before switching to Australian rules football and was recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the 34th pick in the 2009 AFL draft.
His first four seasons in the AFL were hindered by knee and hamstring problems before he was promoted to the number one ruck position at Melbourne in 2015 and named All-Australian in 2016. At the commencement of the 2020 AFL season, Gawn was chosen Melbourne’s captain, and in 2021, he led the club to its first premiership since 1964. Gawn contributes effectively in both the ruck and front line, being 6 ft 10 in tall and weighing 238 lbs.